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The present invention generally relates to information updating systems, and more particularly, to a software system and method for updating information which reduces the size of an update and distributes the update in a platform independent manner.
With the rapid and continuous advancement of software and hardware technology, maintenance of existing devices and software components presents an ever-increasing challenge. Routine installation of information updates and patches has become a recognized necessity to insure that computers, devices, and software applications are kept fully functional over their operational lifetimes. Unfortunately, for many devices and applications, update management can be a cumbersome, time consuming, and error prone process. These problems are often exacerbated in portable electronic devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants due to memory constraints and bandwidth restrictions. Furthermore, portable electronic devices often lack the ability to perform automated update operations in a convenient and reliable manner. As a result, there is an ongoing need for improved update processes that can be used in conjunction with both hardware and software systems. Furthermore, there is a need for an update methodology that reduces the size of the update package to help alleviate potential problems that arise due to memory constraints and bandwidth limitations.
Increased sophistication of updateable electronic devices and software often necessitates frequent maintenance where updates are made available and desirably applied on weekly or monthly basis. During the update process, problems often arise when the update is improperly performed or interrupted and may result in data corruption, loss of program functionality, or hardware failure. This presents developers and consumers alike with significant obstacles to insure that available updates are installed in a timely and effective manner. Additionally, developers must dedicate a substantial amount of time and resources to insure their users are provided with necessary updates, patches, and new versions of existing software and/or hardware components.
Some of the concerns which the developer must address include the substantial amount of resources required to store and provide updates to a large customer base, technical support issues related to helping customers properly apply the updates, and the methods by which the updates are distributed to the customers in a timely and efficient manner. A further problem exists where a high degree of requisite of skill is needed to acquire and install an available update and may involve technical skills beyond that of the average customer. Even if a customer is able to retrieve the update, he is faced with the problem of insuring its proper installation. Improper installation of an update package may result in software failure or render the device to which the update is applied inoperative and place a further burden on the developer in resolving customer-related update problems. With increased dependence on electronic devices having updateable components, there is a need for faster and more intuitive updating capabilities and smaller update file sizes to insure that updates can be readily retrieved and properly installed as necessary or desired. In many instances, the ease, reliability, and availability of an update package can significantly affect customer number and loyalty and is a distinguishing characteristic for a successful developer or merchant.
Although the importance of a superior updating system is apparent, conventional updating solutions typically suffer from a number of drawbacks. These problems are particularly prevalent in portable electronics devices and arise from a number of factors related to creation, distribution, and installation of the update package. For example, electronic devices such as cellular phones are often limited with respect to the available memory or storage space available for update processing. The size of the update package must be kept to a minimum in order to accommodate the reduced availability of resources on these devices and, as a result, the ability to perform significant alterations or modifications of the embedded code in these devices may be limited. Furthermore, conventional update methods for portable electronic devices which are directed towards complete operating system replacement or maintenance require the device to be physically connected by a wired connection to a dedicated apparatus which applies the update. Updating in this manner requires specialized hardware and necessitates the device to be updated to be returned to the manufacturer or a suitable service location. This is inconvenient for the user and may not be practical when the number of devices to be updated is large.
In devices that support wireless acquisition and installation of update packages, problems are frequently encountered due to bandwidth limitations needed to distribute available update packages. Furthermore, acquisition of the update package by wireless methods may take long periods of time and be subject to interruption or data corruption. Even when the update package has been acquired, the installation of the update often requires significant technical expertise at the user end complicating the proper installation of the update package. During this time the user may be faced with problems associated with uninstalling a previous version of the code to be updated or applying the update in manner that will be successful. This can present a further problem as it discourages the user from performing update operations for long periods of time or in some cases altogether.
A further problem exists with update management systems that rely on publicly accessible servers to provide updates to large number of users. These servers often become busy or crowded and reduce the efficiency by which the update can be acquired. Additional complexities resulting from update requirements arise from shortened product version lifecycles. It is not uncommon for new software releases to be available every few months (or even weeks, in the case of xe2x80x98bug fixesxe2x80x99 and intra-version updates). This places increased demands on developer resources required to maintain the update services and results in developers expending added resources for existing software maintenance potentially shifting their focus from developing new product capabilities to supporting and updating older versions. From a business perspective software updating is generally recognized as a non-revenue producing activity and may consume an inordinate percentage of developer resources. Therefore there is an ongoing need to reduce the time, resources, and personnel needed to service existing software while at the same time insuring the customers are presented with the most up-to-date software versions. Attempts to make updates faster and more intuitive have led to the development of internally-designed and supported update solutions. A number of problems are associated with these solutions which are typically expensive, proprietary, and platform-specific. Other methods for update creation use commercial software packages designed to create updates or to generate patches for software. Both of these methods have inherent problems with flexibility and file size. Commercially available software updaters can be expensive and typically create updates which have unnecessarily large file sizes. In some instances, the new version or update generated by the updater is actually a fill version of the software rather than an actual patch. Because of the problems associated with large update file sizes, developers may be hesitant to release frequent patches and as a result, pursue longer software development cycles. This may be a disservice to the customer due to the limited number of updates, which may be released only when there are substantial enough changes and/or improvements to warrant the creation and disbursement of large update files.
From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that there is an ongoing need for a convenient and reliable update management system. To this end, there is a need for a system which generates and distributes updates that are of reduced size to allow for more rapid acquisition. Additionally there is a need for an automated process that provides a convenient trouble-free method for installing desired updates to both hardware and software systems alike.
The present invention satisfies aforementioned needs for efficient updating of digital information sequences that comprise software, devices, and data. Further, these digital information sequences may be stored and used in various forms, including but not limited to files, memory locations, or embedded storage locations. The system and methods described herein provide a developer with an improved ability to create update information as needed and additionally allow users to proceed through a simplified update path which is not error-prone and can be performed more quickly than through the use of existing technologies.
In one embodiment the invention comprises a system for updating a plurality of distributed electronic devices with an updated operating code comprising a first plurality of digital information sequences wherein each of the plurality of electronic devices include a resident operating code comprising a second plurality of digital information sequences that are stored within the electronic device. The system further comprises an update generator that compares an image of the first plurality of digital information sequences comprising the updated operating code to an image of the second plurality of digital information sequences comprising the resident operating code and identifies differences between of the updated operating code and the resident operating code and thereafter generates an update package comprising an instruction set which specifies how to generate the updated operating code utilizing at least a portion of the second plurality of digital information sequences of the resident operating code. The system further comprises a distribution system that distributes the update package to the electronic devices such that the update package is received by the electronic devices and stored therein. The system further comprises a plurality of client modules that are respectively resident on each of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein the plurality of client modules access the distribution system and receive the update package and wherein the instruction set of the update package is executed by the client modules so as to generate the updated operating code by utilizing a least a portion of the second plurality of digital information sequences from the resident operating code.
In another aspect the invention comprises a system for updating an electronic device containing a first plurality of data sequences comprising a first code version to a second code version comprising a second plurality of data sequences using a update package comprising a plurality of transformation instructions which transform the first code version into the second code version. The system further comprises an update generator that performs a version comparison between the first code version and the second code version to identify pattern differences between the first plurality of data sequences and the second plurality of data sequences, wherein the identified pattern differences are encoded using the transformation instructions which identify portions of the first plurality of data sequences that can be used in the construction of the identified pattern differences, and thereafter forming the update package using the transformation instructions. The system further comprises a distribution system that receives the update package from the update generator and distributes the update package to the electronic device. The system further comprises an update agent resident on the electronic device that executes the transformation instructions of the update package thereby transforming the first code version resident in the electronic device into the updated second code version.
In yet another aspect the invention comprises a system for updating a plurality of distributed electronic devices with an updated operating code that comprises a plurality of data blocks wherein each of the plurality of distributed electronic devices include a resident operating code that is stored as plurality of data blocks. The system further comprises an update generator that compares the plurality of data blocks of the resident operating code with the plurality of data blocks of the updated operating code and thereby generates an update package comprising an instruction set which indicates how to generate the updated operating code utilizing at least in part the plurality of data blocks of the resident operating code. The system further comprises a distribution system that includes the update package and is accessible by each of the plurality of distributed electronic devices. The system further comprises a plurality of client modules that are respectively resident on each of the plurality of distributed electronic set, wherein the plurality of client modules accesses the distribution system so as to be able to receive the update package, wherein the instruction set provides instructions to the client modules such that the client modules generates at least a portion of the plurality of data blocks comprising the updating operating code by utilizing the plurality of data blocks comprising the resident operating code.
In still another aspect the invention comprises a system for updating a plurality of distributed electronic devices with an updated operating code that comprises a plurality of data blocks wherein each of the plurality of distributed electronic devices include a resident operating code that is stored as plurality of data blocks. The system further comprises an update generator that compares the plurality of data blocks of the resident operating code with the plurality of data blocks of the updated operating code and thereby identifies update data blocks that are different between the update operating code and the resident operating code wherein the update generator generates an update package comprising an instruction set which indicates how to transform the resident operating code into the updated operating code and how to generate the update data blocks utilizing at least in part the plurality of data blocks of the resident operating code. The system further comprises a distribution system that includes the update package and is accessible by each of the plurality of distributed electronic devices. The system further comprises a plurality of client modules that are respectively resident on each of the plurality of distributed electronic set, wherein the plurality of client modules accesses the distribution system so as to be able to receive the update package, wherein the instruction set provides instructions to the client modules such that the client modules modifies the resident operating code into the updated operating code and wherein the client modules generates at least a portion of the update data blocks by utilizing the received instruction set to perform operations on the data blocks of the resident operating code to generate the update data blocks.
In a further embodiment the invention comprises a method of updating a resident operating code stored in a first storage section of an electronic device into an updated operating code. The method further comprises the step of developing an update package comprising a plurality of transformation operations to transform the resident operating code into the updated operating code. The method further comprises the step of transferring the update package to the electrical device. The method further comprises the step of copying a portion of the resident operating code into a second storage section. The method further comprises the step of updating the portion of the resident operating code stored in the second storage section using the transformation operations of the update package to transform the resident operating code into updated operating code. The method further comprises the step of replacing the portion of resident operating code stored in the first storage section with the portion of updated operating code stored in the second storage section. The method further comprises the step of repeating steps of copying, updating, and replacing noted above until the resident operating code has been fully updated to the updated operating code.
In a still further embodiment the invention comprises an updatable electronic device comprising a non-volatile storage section having operating code stored therein, a volatile storage section that is adapted to receive an update package comprising a plurality of instructions via a communications medium, and a controller that implements the instructions of the update package to update the operating code stored in the nonvolatile storage section. In this embodiment the controller is configured to sequentially (i) retrieve original portions of operating code from the non-volatile storage section into the volatile storage section and (ii) apply the instructions of the update package to the retrieved portions in the volatile storage section to thereby transform the retrieved original operating code portion into an updated operating code portion and then (iii) replace the original operating code portion with the updated operating code portion.